Clúdach: Cover

We are delighted to return, in the covers of our 2017 volume, to the rich collections of the Crawford Art Gallery, Cork, which our longtime readers may recall was also the source of our cover art in volume 3 (1999). Over the course of the next four covers, we will present nineteenth-century Irish paintings from the Crawford’s holdings that feature animals.

We start with Bay Horse by Samuel L. Murphy, an 1871 oil on canvas, measuring 44 x 60 cm. Little is known about Murphy, who is generally identified as a member of the Irish School of painting; he flourished in the period 1860 to 1880. Surprisingly, given the extensive history of horse breeding and training in Ireland, there are relatively few examples of horse portraiture.

Crawford Art Gallery is both a national cultural institution and a regional art museum for Munster, dedicated to the visual arts, both historic and contemporary. The permanent collection of the Crawford Art Gallery has grown steadily in recent years, and now comprises more than 2,500 works, ranging from eighteenth-century Irish and European painting and sculpture, through to contemporary video installations. Located on Emmet Place in Cork City, the oldest of the Crawford’s buildings dates back to 1724. We encourage you to visit the gallery’s extensive website at http://www.crawfordartgallery.ie/index.html.

We thank the Crawford Art Gallery, Cork, for kind permission to reproduce this work.